Free Republic

Hizbullah Official Abdullah Kassir: Your Motivation For Getting Married And Having Children Should Be To Produce Soldiers For The Imam Mahdi Hizbullah official Abdullah Kassir said on a February 15, 2023 show on Al-Manar TV (Hizbullah-Lebanon) that his motivation for getting married and having children was to "produce soldiers" for the Imam Mahdi, who is the messianic figure in Shi'ite belief. He explained that Sheikh Ragheb Harb, who was a senior Hizbullah commander in the early 1980s, used to say this as well, and the show's host responded: "This is the main strategic goal." Kassir also said: "Today, all the...

Rep. Greg Steube is demanding answers from the Smithsonian about the treatment of a group of Catholic pro-life students, who last month were forced to leave the facility after being harassed by staff. The students, from Greenville, South Carolina, were in Washington for the March for Life. They toured the National Air and Space Museum on Jan. 20. While present there, the group wore blue knit caps that read “Rosary Pro-Life.”

Years after the rollout of vaccine mandates that led to the firing of thousands of workers, the Lancet has reported that natural immunity is just as effective as two doses of the Moderna or Pfizer shots in preventing both reinfection and serious illness from COVID-19. The findings, which were published in the February edition of the prestigious medical journal, were based on a review of 65 separate studies from 19 different countries. “Although protection from reinfection from all variants wanes over time, our analysis of the available data suggests that the level of protection afforded by previous infection is at...

Trump said to achieve his goal, he would phase in a system of universal, baseline tariffs on most foreign products. Trump said higher tariffs will "increase incrementally depending on how much individual foreign countries devalue their currency." Trump also said countries devalue their currency and "subsidize their industries, or otherwise engage in trade cheating and abuse, and they do it now like never before." "We had largely stopped and it was going to be stopped completely within less than a year," Trump said, reflecting on his administration. "As tariffs on foreign producers go up, taxes on American producers will go...

The Virginia Military Institute continues to face intense pushback from an alumni group that opposes the military school’s ongoing diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. The activists in recent months upped their efforts by seeking to redirect the institute’s alumni fundraising in an effort to persuade campus leaders to pull back on critical race theory policies and programs. “The only way you can influence them is by hurting their pocketbook,” alumnus Gene Rice told The College Fix in an interview.

Callous human traffickers threw young migrants into the sea to try to lighten the boat that sank off the Italian coast, according to a report Monday — as officials fear the death toll could top 100. “The traffickers started to throw kids out,” one of the 81 survivors told La Stampa of the overcrowded 65-foot wooden boat that smashed into rocky reefs before dawn Sunday. “They grabbed them by the arm and threw them in the sea.” The mayor of the Italian town of Crotone, Vincenzo Voce, shared similar stories as he arrived with flowers to where dozens of coffins...

A mikveh is a bath used for the purpose of ritual immersion to achieve ritual purity in Judaism. The traditional rules regarding the construction of a mikveh are based on those specified in regulations laid down in the Torah and in classical rabbinical literature.The text describes how a mikveh must be connected to a natural spring or well of naturally occurring water, and thus can be supplied by rivers and lakes which have natural springs as their source. A cistern filled by rainwater is also permitted to act as a mikveh’s water supply, so long as the water is never...

What President Ronald Reagan and House Speaker Tip O’Neill (D-Mass.) “deplored more than each other’s political philosophy was stalemate, and a country that was so polarized by ideology and party politics that it could not move forward. There were tough words and important disagreements. . . yet a stronger commitment to getting things done.” That observation came from O’Neill’s oldest son, Thomas P. O’Neill, in a 2012 New York Times column entitled, “Frenemies: A Love Story” regarding his Democratic father’s relationship with the Republican president. O’Neill and Reagan were both of Irish descent. And when disagreements got heated between the...

The titanic political contest in 1980 between Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan is well known. It was a struggle between two very different men with two very different views of America and the world. One believed in bigger government and one believed in smaller government. One believed we could work and coexist with the Soviets and one said he would "consign it to the ash heap of history." One believed in the individual and the other led a party whose platform said government was the principal creator of jobs. During the campaign, Reagan often zinged Carter by saying, "Recession is...

This is a pretty interesting commentary on the Asbury University revival considering that Ben Shapiro is an Orthodox Jew. I wouldn't have expected such a positive view of the revival from Shapiro. His comments about our society, the Asbury revival, and, to a lesser degree, the Woke Movement and secularism are insightful.

Larry Summers, former U.S. secretary of the treasury and former president of Harvard University, called for the Western governments to “seize” Russian government assets held in international banking institutions to “support” Ukraine and other countries during an interview with CNN’s Fareed Zakaria aired on Sunday. .@LHSummers says the U.S. should “seize” Russian assets held in international banks & redistribute them to Ukraine & “other nations” as well pic.twitter.com/vibKS065kh — Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) February 27, 2023 Summers framed reparations paid by the German government to the Soviet Union after World War II as a precedent for seizure of Russian government assets.

Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi got a rude welcome home when she got heckled in a San Francisco restaurant. In the video below you can hear a man call put Pelosi on numerous issues. He says: “Nancy, can you tell us why we have 150 billion dollars going to Ukraine when we have homeless on our streets in your own city? Nancy, can I get some stock trading tips on how to get semiconductors in Taiwan. Nancy, is your son involved with Hunter Biden?” Nancy seems to fire back at the heckler but staff shout over her response. She recently...

Billionaire Elon Musk Sunday accused the media of being racist against whites and Asians after U.S. newspapers dropped a white comic strip author who made derogatory comments about Black Americans. The Los Angeles Times, the Washington Post and USA Today were among newspapers that canceled the cartoon "Dilbert" after its creator Scott Adams said Black Americans were a hate group and posted racist comments on his YouTube channel Wednesday. In replies to tweets about the controversy, the Tesla and Twitter chief executive said the media had long been racist against non-white people but are now "racist against whites & Asians."...

Here’s a pop quiz. Some questions are conceptual, others ask about particular facts. The correct answers are supplied at the end. (But don’t cheat by peeking beforehand at the answers!) Good luck!

<p>Historical, racist gun laws are taking on new relevance in legal battles over modern-day gun regulations, following a Supreme Court ruling that expanded the right to bear arms.</p><p>In the 1700s and 1800s, states across the country passed laws to keep guns out of the hands of slaves, free Black people, Native Americans and Catholics. Such discriminatory gun restrictions would be unconstitutional today, but they have entered the gun-rights debate as judges look to apply the Supreme Court’s decision last June that said gun restrictions must be anchored in historical traditions.</p>

When you hear that one of Hunter Biden’s former business partners may be going public with some of the family’s dirty laundry, the first name that comes to mind is probably Eric Schwerin. And it’s true that Schwerin is reportedly cooperating with the House Oversight Committee’s investigations into Biden Incorporated. But today’s story is about a different associate of Hunter, Joe, and Jim. Gal Luft is a think tank executive who used to represent a Chinese energy corporation that basically served as a front for the Chinese Communist Party and reportedly paid Hunter Biden millions of dollars. Luft is in...

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen made a ‘surprise’ visit to Kiev on Monday to reinforce the US’s support for Ukraine.Joe Biden was just in Ukraine giving Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky more US taxpayer money.But that wasn’t enough.Yellen is now in Kiev to announce another transfer of $1.25 billion to Ukraine.Janet Yellen is also working to seize the $300 billion in Russian bank assets frozen by sanctions and transferring it to Ukraine to help rebuild the country.Reuters reported:U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen swept into Kyiv on Monday on a surprise visit to reaffirm U.S. support for Ukraine in its struggle against Russia’s...

In an interview with Chris Wallace on CNN, Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas explained that "when I say the border is secure this doesn't mean that people aren't able to cross the border illegally. It means that we are able to prevent Republicans from blocking the entry of foreigners that the Administration believes will help make the country stronger." "Surveys have shown that people are coming here because the President has invited them to come," the Secretary pointed out. "Their gratitude for being admitted and gaining their fair share of the benefits and amenities the US has...

(Last Updated On: February 23, 2023) NATIONAL STRAWBERRY DAY We continue with February’s heart-shaped and red theme by observing National Strawberry Day on February 27th. These juicy, sweet berries can brighten up any dish and are delicious all on their own. #NationalStrawberryDay There are a few different stories behind the origin of the name. The more widely accepted version is that the berries would drop off the leaves and become “strewn” about the plant. Over time “strewn-berries” became “strawberries”. There was a time (and some gardeners still do this today) when strawberry beds were mulched with straw, insulating the plants...

In countries where Asians and Jews immigrated in large numbers, they have long followed a common path. Both groups occupy a dual position: discriminated against for standing out, while at the same time held up as models of success. But increasingly, that success has itself become a liability. Jews and Asians outperform the overall population in such critical areas as education and income, not only in the U.S., but in Canada, Australia, and the U.K., and as a result are collectively held a party to supposedly oppressive power structures in those countries. According to progressive ideas being taught by public...